Wow. I love VC. I wish they were still allowed to compete in football, but they've certainly poured all of that energy into the NBA game. Definitely not the baseball game.

Eh, the baseball game was fine this year. Actually, it was one of my favorite all-time games sports games.

The problem is, baseball is just not a very compelling video game sport for most people. There are not sales to justify the time and effort. NBA 2K11 sold 5.5 million. MLB 2K11 sold around 500K copies, which is about what Sony's The Show old. 2K beat Sony in overall franchise sales, but if we just look at 360 and PS3 sales, Sony just edged 2K out.

But those numbers are dwarfed by what NBA and NFL games can sell, just because there is a much bigger market of people ready to play them. I will be you that Sony loses money on The Show overall because it is a great product to show off the PS3.

Regardless, 2K made their biggest mistake when they reacted emotionally to EA stealing football, and they over paid for a really weak exclusive deal with MLB that basically only excluded EA. So on top of everything else, they are losing money hand over fist because baseball games don't sell, and never really did.

I was really hoping VC would bring NHL 2K back with NBA 2K11's presentation. I would kill for that. But hockey suffers some of the same problems as baseball. There are not enough sales to fund two big budget titles, and EA cleaned 2K's clock over the last three years in hockey.

It's nice to see 2K going full steam ahead in basketball, even with EA becoming a no-show for two straight years. I wish they would fire out an NCAA basketball title to go with it.

Henry Standing Bear: It is a beautiful day at the Red Pony and continual soiree.

Castiel: I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave.

I didn't realize the baseball game had improved this year. I've heard nothing but bad things. Either way my point is that although they lost (or gave up, depending on who you believe) football, they've really put all effort behind making the basketball game amazing. Can't wait.

One of my favorite players too, more so from interactions with him and other Hornets from that period. Back in the late 80's early 90's the teams that traveled to play against the Blazers use to practice at the athletic club I belong too. They have 3 NBA size courts with racquetball courts running the length of one side of the end lines. One of those courts was setup with wrestling mats and Muggsy and Larry Johnson were in there wrestling with random members kids, letting like 4 or 5 of them pin them to the ground. They then put on an impromptu dunk contest which culminated with each of them trying and finally succeeding in tossing a ball off the metal facing of the third floor above the basketball court (theres a track that runs around on the third floor) catching the ball and dunking.

Nice. I too remember when players were more accessible. The Blazers used to practice at my college's gym. So that led to weird stuff like taking a shower and having Mark Bryant in the stall next to you. When I was recruited to play football one of the assistant coaches introduced me to Uncle Cliffy, Drexler, Porter and Danny Ainge.

Most random story from those days is that I almost hit James "Hollywood" Robinson with the campus mail van. I was driving down to the gym and he ran in front of me. I wouldmjoke with my college friends about how that could be a major "what if" in the Blazer timeline since we traded him for JR Rider later.

Just played the demo and I'm conflicted. I'm kind of bummed they got rid of the hop step button. Hopefully the gains in post play make it worthwhile. I'm mostly conflicted on the demo itself, though. You get to play 1 3 minute quarter, Mavs and Heat. And you can't sub players. That functionality is disabled. The game plays smoother and I'm excited for the legend teams. Not sure why they wouldn't want to show that off a little. Weird.

Got it tonight. Holy s***! This is the basketball, neigh, sports game I've been wanting my entire life. So far the "My Player" mode is robust. Including a draft with David Stern calling out your name. There video montages of classic players are amazing as is (obviously) playing with the classic players. Taking Kareem down into the post and shooting his hook shot is beautiful. 2K could ask me for another $100 for classic teams and I might hand it over to them. Well done.

Is there a one on one mode, and can you play Dr. J vs. Larry Bird? It's not imortant, but itseems like too good of an opportunity to pass up.

I loved 2K11, and I will pick this up at some point. It's clearly a better game than NHL 12, but I just like hockey a lot more. And NHL 12 is an excellent game by any standard except comparison to the NBA 2K series.

I'm sure I will pick it up eventually. 2K just gets sports games in ways EA doesn't comprehend. Right now I am having a blast with MLB Today for the playoffs in MLB 2K11. That and NBA Today makes me crave it for a hockey game.

Henry Standing Bear: It is a beautiful day at the Red Pony and continual soiree.

Castiel: I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave.

Why did the 2k football game die? That's a sport I don't follow closely so I never knew what happened.

I'm assuming you mean hockey. It appears to be purely a situation of competition and losing. 2K hockey was easily the better series, but started to take some steps backwards at te same time EA's game to some remarkably large steps forward. It was pretty much the opposite of the NBA games.

I was really hoping 2K was taking a year off to get their hockey game up to NBA 2K levels, but it appears they haver decided to kill off the series altogether.

Henry Standing Bear: It is a beautiful day at the Red Pony and continual soiree.

Castiel: I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave.

Why did the 2k football game die? That's a sport I don't follow closely so I never knew what happened.

Yeah, Freudian slip.

Jayhawker wrote:

I'm assuming you mean hockey. It appears to be purely a situation of competition and losing. 2K hockey was easily the better series, but started to take some steps backwards at te same time EA's game to some remarkably large steps forward. It was pretty much the opposite of the NBA games.

I was really hoping 2K was taking a year off to get their hockey game up to NBA 2K levels, but it appears they haver decided to kill off the series altogether.

So just a financial decision? I remember when I first joined GWJ a lot of you guys played 2k hockey together. So I imagined it had to be decent. So I was surprised when it basically disappeared off the face of the earth.

I buckled. I hadn't put as much time into a user-controlled sports game as I did with 2K11 since... god, maybe NHL 98 or PES 4 or 5. So I grabbed NBA this weekend, and this really is the bar EA has to work up to, across all sports titles. Even the friendly AI (a notorious EA failing) is amazing, I just watched Chauncey Billups drive to the hole, fake a layup and thow a spectacular pass to a wide-open Roger Mason for the 3. I am deeply, hugely impressed. At this moment, this is easily in my GotY Top 3.

I buckled. I hadn't put as much time into a user-controlled sports game as I did with 2K11 since... god, maybe NHL 98 or PES 4 or 5. So I grabbed NBA this weekend, and this really is the bar EA has to work up to, across all sports titles. Even the friendly AI (a notorious EA failing) is amazing, I just watched Chauncey Billups drive to the hole, fake a layup and thow a spectacular pass to a wide-open Roger Mason for the 3. I am deeply, hugely impressed. At this moment, this is easily in my GotY Top 3.

I'm with you. It's pretty astounding. I love those highlight reels for the players. So much love in that game. And the level of the control you have is incredible. EA won't catch up, I predict.

Been a long, long time since I played an NBA 2k game, but I've picked this one up and am less than shocked to discover any skills I once had have eroded significantly - not to mention being lost making use of the shot stick. That stuff will come, but the one thing I'm noticing is how much trouble I have just navigating the floor - constantly overrunning spots and generally just having trouble with momentum. Does this game require a lot of finesse with the analog stick - not just jamming in a direction but rather smaller nudges?

Been a long, long time since I played an NBA 2k game, but I've picked this one up and am less than shocked to discover any skills I once had have eroded significantly - not to mention being lost making use of the shot stick. That stuff will come, but the one thing I'm noticing is how much trouble I have just navigating the floor - constantly overrunning spots and generally just having trouble with momentum. Does this game require a lot of finesse with the analog stick - not just jamming in a direction but rather smaller nudges?

They model real momentum pretty well. So yeah, you can't just cut on a dime unless you're doing a step-back, crossover, etc. and using the LT modifier.

One major downside to the game: While the in-game AI is razor-quick, the GM AI is dumb as a brick. If you're into Association mode like I am, either turn off trades or be prepared to see Miami ship out LeBron for Dwight Howard or a Kobe-sized bidding war break out over Danilo Gallinari.